Welcome from the President

Manetto Hill Jewish Center has been my family’s home since 1977.

Through all those years we have celebrated the B’nai Mitzvah of my siblings, my mother and I.  My Auf Ruf was in our sanctuary as was the Baby Naming of my twin daughters.  Therefore, when I was asked to be the President of our congregation, I found no higher honor possible.

As a congregation, we pride ourselves for our progressive and forward-thinking ways.  We were one of the first Conservative synagogues to embrace egalitarianism, Interfaith families and those in the LGBTQ+ community.  We provide services, programming and education for all ages and we believe that we do all that we can to serve our congregations needs.

In 2021-2022, we have launched a multi-grade pilot program in our Religious School that also offers options to our parents for a Sunday or Monday as one of the learning days.  We provide a place for our Religious School families to gather and say hello, while also offering various types of Shabbat Services to engage our children and their parents.

If you do not have children in our Religious School, we have education classes and special programming just for you as well.  It is our goal to be inclusive of our congregation’s needs and wants.  Our diversity of ages in our lay leadership allows us to be all-inclusive when we work for our congregation.

While the word “President” may be before my name, I am only the person in the front of the room.  Our Executive Board and Board of Directors are the true leaders and heroes of this congregation.  They invite people to join our congregation, get them involved in our committees and bring them to our holidays and services.  They will always continue to get my praise and thanks.

As I said above, I have been part of Manetto Hill Jewish Center for over 40 years.  Some of the best moments of my life have happened with or around members of our congregation.  To me, all of our families are an extension of the family that I have with Mara, Isabel and Sydney.  We welcome you to become part of our congregation and part of our extended family.

To contact me at any time, please email me at mhjcruss@gmail.com.  I look forward to seeing everyone at Manetto Hill Jewish Center.